Saddam to be target of Britain's 'E-bomb'

The Pentagon is planning to use a British weapon that can disable electronic and electrical systems without killing anyone to attack Saddam Hussein's
chemical and biological weapons sites.

The "radio frequency weapon", or E-Bomb, developed at a secret site in south-west England, sends out a high-intensity radio wave with similar
effects to the electromagnetic pulse from a nuclear blast.

It is also able to penetrate the underground bunkers where Saddam's chemical and biological weapons are stored as protection from allied bombing. The
radio pulse will travel easily down the bunkers' power and ventilation ducts.

One of the biggest problems facing allied troops if they were sent into Iraq would be that, with any attack aimed at removing him from power, Saddam
knows he has nothing to lose in using his weapons of mass destruction.

Bombing the sites would only spread the chemical or biological agents, killing innocent Iraqi civilians and threatening invading forces.

By using the E-bomb to cripple the plants' refrigeration and computer systems, the allies would ensure that the weapons could not be used in any
effective way.

Although the weapon is still in the final stages of development, American defence sources said they were interested in acquiring it for immediate
deployment in any attack on Iraqi chemical and biological weapons sites.

The E-Bomb can be made to have a limited range and be delivered by cruise missile, by smart bomb, or by one of the unmanned aerial vehicles which
proved their effectiveness during the campaign in Afghanistan, one British official said.

As it approaches its target, an array of aerials spring out and its capacitors discharge themselves, sending out a burst of high-powered microwave
energy to disable electrical and electronic systems.

The weapon was developed by the novel technology department of Matra BAe Dynamics. It gives credence to the nightmare scenario of a high-technology
war when the enemy could disable the radio, radar, and computer systems on which modern defences depend.

The weapon can also bring civil infrastructure to a standstill, closing national electricity grids, stopping telephone, radio and television
systems.

The discovery that Russia was close to producing the E-bomb sparked a race to build similar weapons and counter-measures to protect against them in
which Britain has become the world leader.

MI6 has told ministers that Iraq may still possess tons of chemical warfare agents, the necessary materials to produce thousands of litres of
biological agents and as many as 10 Scud missiles with which to deliver them.

Iraq has admitted that before the Gulf war it manufactured 100 botulinum bombs, 50 anthrax bombs, and seven aflatoxin bombs. Five missile warheads
were filled with anthrax, 16 with botulinum, and four with aflatoxin.

The Iraqi chemical warfare arsenal is known to include:

The nerve agents Sarin and VX. Colourless and tasteless, they cause death by respiratory arrest in one to 15 minutes.

Psychoactive agents such as Agent 15. Symptoms include dizziness, vomiting and hallucinations lasting for days. Biological warfare agents produced by
Iraq include:

Anthrax. Symptoms initially resemble that of a common cold and are only identifiable in the fatal phase. Once this begins, vomiting, severe head and
joint pain, and respiratory distress will lead to death in one to three days.

Botulinum. Causes botulism. Symptoms include nausea, diarrhoea, paralysis of the throat and convulsions, followed by death due to respiratory
arrest.

Aflotoxins. Poisons produced by fungi and mould, they have the capacity to cause liver cancer.

Ricin. Inhalation leads to weakness, fever and pulmonary oedema within 24 hours followed by death.

Good point, nyeff.
I have some other concerns myself.
- Is this new weapon environment-friendly?
- Is it made of biodegradable materials?
- Was the weapon made using ISO 9002 standards?
- Are the components in the weapon constucted in a fashion that lends it self to proper Feng Shui?

(a) all this talk of pulses is there to hide the possibility that small nuclear weapons will be used - the E-bomb explains away the detactable
traces

It's also worth remembering that something that is claimed to destroy "chemical and bilogical" materials might not be safe -people are chemical and
biological materials.
Add that to the legendary accuracy of American bombing and it doesn't sound so safe any more.

Estragon, its only an E-bomb, it destroys electrical components that are delicate enough to be damaged by an electro-magnetic pulse that isn't
shielded. There'll be no nuclear trace and no human damage, except maybe a temporary disorientation.

No Lupe, it shouldn't turn a guided missile into an unguided one, even if Saddam had guided rockets. What happens is power is induced into
the component that is high enough to "fry" subcomponents, like transistors, diodes and chips. This lets the magic smoke out of them, and they
won't work anymore. Magic smoke is important to electronics!

I read somewhere that RF weapons were also designed but never built. Supposedly the bomb was able to be tuned to a certain wavelength. This tuning of
wavelength varied the affects on humans from dizziness and nausea to painful death. These weapons in the 1000lb range could affect all life within
100miles.
Just thomk if they were built they would kill more people than the biggest H-bomb built.
Scary

ultraphoenix - You are very right that innocents will pay the bill should these weapons be used. They are not like smart bombs which target and kill,
end of story. They tend to last longer and also effect those who were not near the immediate blast area.

I also read an interesting theory about biological warfare some time ago that I fell somewhat compelled to relate to my fellow ATS members. Basically
the article said that a biological weapon, while it would effect the target nation, would more than likely also effect third world nations as much or
more as the target due to the fact that their medical system isn't as modern/well supplied as those of the Western world. With world travel, an agent
such as smallpox or Ebola could be spread through a population with incredible ease, thus effecting the world as well as the target nation.

Ebola has never been weaponized, very few viruses are as it is extremely difficult.
Of course it is going to be worse in a third world country.
If half the stuff i've read about the soviet/russian research and development it wouldn't matter where u were. These strains have been engineered to
withstand anti-biotics and in some cases chimera's have been synthesized.
If that #'s ever released we're probably all dead.

Originally posted by mad scientist
ultra_phoenix, I was not advocating the use of such weapons. I was just stating what I knew.

I know. It was just remark.

And I was not excately scary. I was reading your post, and I was thinking that we are living in a crazy world, where we can post what we want on
Internet about mass destruction weapons. But I'm not sure that we are able to understand all consequences of this weapons. We can just wondering. I
was feeling a strange sensation. That's why I wrote that I was scary.

With the world travel scenario, it's like in the movie " 12 monkeys " with Willis.

Mad Scientist - I'm sorry to say you are indeed wrong. Ebola has been weaponized...in two forms.

The first being straight Ebola which was weaponized by the former Soviet Union. The second, which is a bit nastier, is Ebolapox which is a hybrid of
Ebola and Smallpox. It kills like Ebola, however it is spread like Smallpox.

Lastly, one thing about biological warfare is that everyone WILL NOT be killed. Natural immunities and tolerances exist, so some will be left. Two
prime examples of this are shown in 'Andromeda Strain' and 'Omega Man.'

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